Hockey Night in Phoenix Scores for Charity
by Andrew Nordmeier
April 20, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners
In the otherwise dark world of professional hockey, a glimmer of light shone on the city Phoenix Tuesday night.
The ECHL's Phoenix Roadrunners teamed up with a star-studded array of NHL players and put on an exhibition game to raise funds for youth hockey in Arizona.
In addition to the charity benefit, the game also marked the first time goals larger than four feet by six feet were used in a public game.
In the first period, Philadelphia Flyers netminder Sean Burke and Roadrunners goaltender Michael Mole did their best to defend the larger nets. The crossbar was three inches higher and each goalpost was moved over three inches. That made the size of the goal four-foot-three by six-foot-six.
Burke was beat three times in the opening period by Brad May, Alex Hicks and Cliff Ronning, all of whom used the extra space to light the lamp.
"It was a great experiment," Mole said, "it would be hard to say if it would be good for the league."
Even though there were professional athletes up and down both rosters, the man who stole the show was Robert Sarver. Sarver owns the Roadrunners, Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the NBA's Phoenix Suns.
He went onto the ice, dressed in full goaltender's gear and stopped three of four shots he saw in the closing minutes of the first period. Sarver, who flopped like a fish out of water and looked tentative on his skates, stopped a hard wrister from Roadrunners' president Claude Lemieux and drew cheers from the crowd of 5,237.
Sarver continued to steal the show, jumping onto the ice at random times and making himself at home in the goal crease. During the second period, he went to the far end of the rink and paired up with Burke to make a tandem goaltender effort. The goaltender double-team didn't stop Flyers center Jeremy Roenick from scoring against the two of them. Burke would pat Sarver on the head when he made a save. "This was fun," said Roadrunners' center Dean Tiltgen, a five-year ECHL veteran with scoring punch, "People had missed hockey and there was a lot of excitement."
The first two signees in team history played in the game as did Lemieux, Roadrunners' Head Coach Ron Filion, and assistant coach J.J. Daigneault.
Although Team Sounds Good to Me edged Team K2 by a 12-10 score, the real winners were youth hockey and the Roadrunners.
Sarver took the ice during the second intermission as players tired to raise funds for youth hockey. One of the two youth players who had a chance beat Sarver and raised $1000 while local television personality Brad Perry and a pair of NHLers scored to add $10,000 per goal. The only two pros who didn't add to the total were Roenick and Lemieux; each was denied by sprawling blocker saves from Sarver.
In addition to the on-ice activities, funds for youth hockey were raised through memorabilia sales and a silent auction. A portion of the $25 ticket price also went to charity.
Vancouver forward Todd Bertuzzi was scheduled to attend the game but didn't due to a possible conflict with the upcoming World Championships should be he added to Canada's roster.
"This meant a lot to us. People were dying to see their stars on the ice," Filion said, "Tonight was awesome. There was lots of offense."
Filion wanted to thank everyone who helped put this event together in about a five-week time frame, usually putting in 10-hour days to pull it off.
The Roadrunners open ECHL play in October.
ECHL Stories from April 20, 2005
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- Hockey Night in Phoenix Scores for Charity - OSC Original by Andrew Nordmeier
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- ECHL Today - ECHL
- Lynx not to renew coaching contracts - Augusta Lynx
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